Greece’s Miserable Bailout Deal UPDATED:Tsipras to resign
- Thread starter 88m3
- Start date
it's her style of governingOh shyt I didn't even know things were that gefickt
wtf is she doing being so low profile??
she grew up in a dictatorship and is a single, childless, protestant female from eastern germany, leading a traditionally male dominated conservative party which has it's roots in southern german catholic values. western germans think of eastern germans as their retarded little cousins, who speak funny and are unfit for live in a capitalist society. before she reformed her party, most of its members thought that woman should be raising kids, not run for public office. she has no kids and ran for public office instead. she got the job at a time when nobody wanted it. her party was in shambles, it just lost the elections after 16 years in power and most of it's leadership was tainted by a huge scandal involving illegal donations. they called her "trümmerfrau" back then. trümmer means "debris", it's a term that was used for the woman who began rebuilding germany after ww2, when the men where either dead or still prisoners of war. nobody took her serious, because she is a terrible public speaker, used to dress like a nerd, had a haircut that was even worse and of course because she is a woman. when her party got back on it's feet, the old guard tried to get rid of her. she let them mouth off, and then, taking her time, disposed of every single one of them. my best guess is, that life taught her not to stick her neck out.the new yorker published a brilliant (and pretty damning) portrait of her, called "the quiet german" which pretty much sums her up in this quote:
The Astonishing Rise of Angela Merkel - The New Yorker
the problem with her style of governing is that it works very well when all you have to do is lead an administration. being low profile means that the general public doesn't associate her with petty politics. the administration she led from 2009 - 2013 was widely considered to be the worst germany has had since the end of the war. but somehow, she maintained incredible approval ratings, because germans see her as some kind of strict but benevolent mother, that always knows best. her nickname is "mutti" which means "mom". but in times of crisis, when history making decisions have to be taken, she's a complete failure, because she lacks the gut feeling that is necessary to seize the moment and display leadership. all she does is stall, trying to figure out which is the least risky solution to take.
Last edited:
joeychizzle
光復香港，時代革命
So the enemy thought of her as a kleine hausfrau and she shot them all in the back of the headit's her style of governing
the new yorker published a brilliant (and pretty damning) portrait of her, called "the quiet german" which pretty much sums her up in this quote:
The Astonishing Rise of Angela Merkel - The New Yorker
the problem with her style of governing is that it works very well when all you have to do is lead an administration. being low profile means that the general public doesn't associate her with petty politics. the administration she led from 2009 - 2013 was widely considered to be the worst germany has had since the end of the war. but somehow, she maintained incredible approval ratings, because germans see her as some kind of strict but benevolent mother, that always knows best. her nickname is "mutti" which means "mom". but in times of crisis, when history making decisions have to be taken, she's a complete failure, because she lacks the gut feeling that is necessary to seize the moment and display leadership. all she does is stall, trying to figure out which is the least risky solution to take.
I forgot she was from the East
It's making sense now
she needs to change that 'play it safe' minimum impact shyt though. like the New Yorker mentioned, the 09-13 period was
At least she didn't get viciously hated on months into her rule like Hollande
he might have the lowest approval rating in Europe 
studies show 14-20% approval ratings 
lol, holland only became president because strauss kahn decided to throw his career in theSo the enemy thought of her as a kleine hausfrau and she shot them all in the back of the head
I forgot she was from the East
It's making sense now
she needs to change that 'play it safe' minimum impact shyt though. like the New Yorker mentioned, the 09-13 period was
At least she didn't get viciously hated on months into her rule like Hollande
over a sofitel maid
the guy knew people where trying to set him up and yet he continued to fukk everything that moved 
joeychizzle
光復香港，時代革命
the power of p*ssylol, holland only became president because strauss kahn decided to throw his career in the
Even
p*ssyDominique wasn't prepared
nope, none whatsoever
. merkel is in a coalition government with the center-left german social democratic party. the social democrats are the oldest and largest (in terms of members) party in germany. they also used to always have the largest share of voters (30 - 40%), because the conservative christian democrats are split in two parties (christian social union for bavaria and christian democratic union for the rest of germany). almost all german governments have consisted of a coalition of either conservatives or social democrats together with a smaller party. the social democrats landed a landslide victory in 1998, governing together with the green party. people expected them to implement social change, more social liberties, a focus on environmental sustainability and an expansion of the wellfare state. they delivered somewhat on environmental issues and a couple of liberty issues, but mainly, they introduced neoliberal labour market reforms. in doing so, they damaged their brand essence of being the party for social justice. a number of left leaning members along with former party chairman oskar lafontaine left and joined forces with the former communist party pds (successor to the former governing state party in communist eastern germany) and formed "die linke", which means the left. die linke regularly gets between 5 and 8%, mainly former social democrat voters, who are disillusioned with the spd. it fails to go beyond that because a) it has a shady past as a former authoritarian state party and b) it's members are split between radicals led by lafontaine and his wife sahra wagenknecht, refusing any participation in a coalition government and reformers, who want to form a coalition government with the green party and the social democrats. both factions spend more time fighting each other than focusing on mobilizing voters. if you take the last good election result of the spd of 34% from 2005 and subtract the 8% to 10% die linke gets in the polls, you arrive at 24 - 26%, which is exactly where the spd finds itself ever since then. so the only way the spd could form a leftist government is by joining forces with die linke and the green party. technically, there was a left majority in the german parliament ever since 1998, even after the spd lost power in 2005, but the spd refused to accept die linke as a coalition partner, in hopes of being able to ignore them until the party collapsed. that was a strategic mistake. the next strategic mistake was forming a so called grand coalition with the cdu in 2005. the spd lost the 2005 elections because people wanted less neoliberal reforms, but the grand coalition stood for a continuation of these policies, damaging the brand of the spd even further. so in 2009, the social democrats lost almost 10% of voters, landing a historically low election result of 23%. instead of learning from this experince and trying to rebuild their brand, the spd again formed a grand coalition with the cdu after the next elections in 2013. the strategic reasoning behind this was, that the spd knew merkel had no vision or project, so the plan was to implement social democratic projects (minimum wage, lowering the retirement age etc.) that voters would associate with the spd and which would raise their results in the polls. this did not happen. voters associated these projects with the merkel government, not with the spd, which means that merkel reaped the benefits, while the spd was seen as a party that was so desperate to stay in power, that it regularly betrayed it's core values. since the green party reacted to the downfall of it's traditional partner with trying to appeal to conservatives, it also lost the confidence of it's traditional voters. this means that by now, the technical left majority that existed since 1998 has evaporated, and even if the spd would learn from it's mistakes and accept die linke as a coalition partner, it's unlikely that the election results in 2017 will add up to rot-rot-grün (red-red-green), a coalition government of spd, linke and green party. the situation is so bad, that some leading party figueres even suggested not having a kanzlerkandidat (candidate for the chancellory) in 2017, since everybody knows there won't be an spd chancellor after the next elections. the most likely outcome is a continuation of the grand coalition, which would be devastating for the spd if it was stupid enough to do it and if die linke doesn't start seriously mobilizing voters, there won't be a left alternative for the foreseeable future and this in turn will continue to damage the credibility of germanys representative democracy.
there are already extreme right-wing populist movements profiting from this. in last november 70.000!!!! people marched against islam and immigration and right now, there are widespread nasty protests against asylum seekers. they are very well organized, which suggests that there is somebody behind the scenes building a movement. refugees and the volunteers helping them are getting attacked and a number of refugee shelters have been torched. there are signs everywhere, that the current economic boom is coming to an end and if that happens, things will only get worse. and that is not even taking into account that the next downturn might lead to another banking crisis and the implosion of the european union. so yeah, the future is looking rather grim if you take a closer look at it.
The Fukin Prophecy
RIP Champ
I guarantee you in 6 months the GDP will be over 200%...
You cannot stimulate a stagnant economy without spending...The greek people are living off $600 a month right now...Nobody is spending because they can't afford anything other than basic goods...
This deal is insanity in its purest form and its the laughable kind, not the sad...Even dumbass Tsipras finally figured that out hence why he resigned to save the party...
The majority of rhese morons still do not get it though, they don't need a bailout, they need to default...A peasant cant live like a king...They are already going through the pains of a default but with no end in sight bexause they keep playing this bailout game where the only ones winning are the bankers and corrupt politicians...
I would be voting for anyone with a plan to default because that's the fukking intelligent thing to do...The best way for the Greeks to go about this is workout a deal for a Euro exit which is what the Germans wanted anyways...That is your haircut, take it and default...
tsipras resigned to solidify his power. he wants re-elections, so that he can get rid of the radical wing of his party, who refused to follow him in implementing the "rescue package". it's not that he doesn't know that greece needs to default, it's that he isn't allowed to do it. syriza tried to turn things around and was clearly shown that they have to play by the rules or else. when they came into power, the first thing the ecb did was cut the money supply to a short dribble, then the eu went on to blame syriza for killing he slight growth of the greek economy. when tsipras proposed the referendum, the ecb cut the money supply even further, forcing syriza to implement capital controls, to let the greeks get a taste of what default or grexit will feel like. than, after hours of negotiations on july 12 at around 6 in the morning, after being presented with this insanity of a deal and the creditors not moving an inch from what they proposed, tsipras was ready to say fukk it. when he was about to get up and leave, eu council president tusk told him, that there was no way he was leaving the room without an agreement. europe doesn't allow them to default and europe doesn't allow them to exit. if they do without permission, there is no way that the eu will let them get back on their feet. they can't afford to. if they leave the euro and grexit becomes a success, the euro will unravel, because every country that hits trouble will either want to leave itself, or the markets are going to bet on an exit, forcing the country out of the eurozone. this will include large countries like italy, spain and even france. and if they leave, the eu and the eurozone will collapse.
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Greek opposition tries to form new govt to prevent snap vote
© Louisa Gouliamaki, AFP | The head of the opposition, Vangelis Meimarakis, during a meeting in parliament in Athens on July 23, 2015
Text by NEWS WIRES
Latest update : 2015-08-21
Greece’s president asked the main opposition party Friday to form a new government, a day after prime minister Alexis Tsipras resigned and called an early election next month to deal with a governing party rebellion over Greece’s bailout deal.
The opposition has few chances of uniting and forming a government, meaning that after more than five years of a worsening financial crisis, Greece is headed for its fifth national election in six years.Tsipras is widely tipped to win the vote, though if he fails to secure an outright majority he could have to seek a new coalition that could hamper his ability to govern.
Hardline lawmakers in Tsipras’ radical left Syriza party announced Friday they were splitting from the party and forming their own anti-austerity movement, which becomes the third largest group in Parliament.
Outgoing government officials say the likeliest election date is Sept. 20, just eight months after Tsipras was elected on promises to fight creditor-demanded spending cuts and tax hikes, terms he later agreed to in order to secure Greece a third bailout and keep it from falling out of the euro.
It will be the third time this year that Greeks vote, after January elections and a July 5 referendum Tsipras called urging voters to reject reforms that creditors were proposing during the bailout negotiations.
Greece’s European creditors did not appear dismayed by Tsipras’ move, which was widely expected.
“The step by Prime Minister Tsipras isn’t surprising” considering he has lost his majority in parliament, said Steffen Seibert, spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“The bailout program is a program that was agreed with the Hellenic republic ... and it will be valid through election dates.”
German Finance Ministry spokesman Juerg Weissgerber said that if there were delays in implementation of the bailout agreement due to the elections, “then it would mean that the next payments are delayed too.”
Funds from Greece’s new three-year, 86 billion euro ($95 billion) bailout are being disbursed in batches following reviews of the country’s progress on implementing reforms. The first installment was released Thursday so Athens could meet a debt repayment to the European Central Bank, and a first review is expected in October.
Three days to seek coalition partners
On Friday, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos met conservative New Democracy party head Evangelos Meimarakis and asked him to try to form a government. Meimarakis has three days to seek coalition partners, after which the third largest party in Parliament would a chance for a further three days at most.
The third largest party is now the new movement formed by the 25 lawmakers who split from Syriza Friday. The group, named Popular Unity, will be led by former energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis.
Meimarakis also met with the speaker of Parliament to seek her contribution in trying to cobble together a government and avoid early elections.
However, it is unlikely that Meimarakis or the new party will be able to form a government. At that point, Parliament will be dissolved and a caretaker government appointed to lead the country to early elections within a month.
Announcing his resignation in a televised address Thursday, Tsipras said he secured the best deal possible when he agreed to the new bailout from other eurozone countries to save Greece from a disastrous euro exit.
The deal, however, came with strict terms for more spending cuts and tax increases.
‘Elections will slow reforms’
Tsipras’ reversal in accepting such terms for the bailout caused outrage among Syriza hardliners. About one in four Syriza lawmakers refused to back the bailout’s ratification in Parliament last week, which was only approved with backing from opposition parties.
Malcolm Barr of J.P. Morgan noted that if Tsipras and his Syriza party return to office, as expected, they would do so without the hardliners and would seek out a moderate coalition partner that would help implement the bailout program.
However, he said, “the downside of new elections is that they will slow the implementation of measures.”That could delay the first review of the country’s reforms progress, and in turn delay talks on easing the terms of Greece’s debt, which both Athens and the International Monetary Fund, which was a major participant in Greece’s previous two bailouts, insist is essential.
Greek stocks tumble
The political uncertainty is taking its toll on Greece’s stock market, with the Athens Stock Exchange down 1.6 percent in mid-day trading, after closing 3.5 percent down Thursday on election speculation.
Tsipras had delayed a decision on whether to call a new election until after Greece received its first installment from the new bailout and made a debt repayment to the European Central Bank; it did both Thursday.
“Now that this difficult cycle has ended ... I feel the deep moral and political obligation to set before your judgment everything I have done, both right and wrong, the achievements and the omissions,” he said.
Tsipras insists he had to accept the unpalatable bailout terms to keep Greece in the euro, the EU’s common currency. He is betting on a stronger mandate if polls are held before voters feel the impact of the new steep tax hikes and spending cuts.
He acknowledged Thursday the bailout deal was not what his government had wanted.
“I wish to be fully frank with you. We did not achieve the agreement that we were hoping for before the January elections,” he said. “But ... (the agreement) was the best anyone could have achieved. We are obliged to observe this agreement, but at the same time we will do our utmost to minimize its negative consequences.”
Europe - Greek opposition tries to form new govt to prevent snap vote
© Louisa Gouliamaki, AFP | The head of the opposition, Vangelis Meimarakis, during a meeting in parliament in Athens on July 23, 2015
Text by NEWS WIRES
Latest update : 2015-08-21
Greece’s president asked the main opposition party Friday to form a new government, a day after prime minister Alexis Tsipras resigned and called an early election next month to deal with a governing party rebellion over Greece’s bailout deal.
The opposition has few chances of uniting and forming a government, meaning that after more than five years of a worsening financial crisis, Greece is headed for its fifth national election in six years.Tsipras is widely tipped to win the vote, though if he fails to secure an outright majority he could have to seek a new coalition that could hamper his ability to govern.
Hardline lawmakers in Tsipras’ radical left Syriza party announced Friday they were splitting from the party and forming their own anti-austerity movement, which becomes the third largest group in Parliament.
Outgoing government officials say the likeliest election date is Sept. 20, just eight months after Tsipras was elected on promises to fight creditor-demanded spending cuts and tax hikes, terms he later agreed to in order to secure Greece a third bailout and keep it from falling out of the euro.
It will be the third time this year that Greeks vote, after January elections and a July 5 referendum Tsipras called urging voters to reject reforms that creditors were proposing during the bailout negotiations.
Greece’s European creditors did not appear dismayed by Tsipras’ move, which was widely expected.
“The step by Prime Minister Tsipras isn’t surprising” considering he has lost his majority in parliament, said Steffen Seibert, spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“The bailout program is a program that was agreed with the Hellenic republic ... and it will be valid through election dates.”
German Finance Ministry spokesman Juerg Weissgerber said that if there were delays in implementation of the bailout agreement due to the elections, “then it would mean that the next payments are delayed too.”
Funds from Greece’s new three-year, 86 billion euro ($95 billion) bailout are being disbursed in batches following reviews of the country’s progress on implementing reforms. The first installment was released Thursday so Athens could meet a debt repayment to the European Central Bank, and a first review is expected in October.
Three days to seek coalition partners
On Friday, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos met conservative New Democracy party head Evangelos Meimarakis and asked him to try to form a government. Meimarakis has three days to seek coalition partners, after which the third largest party in Parliament would a chance for a further three days at most.
The third largest party is now the new movement formed by the 25 lawmakers who split from Syriza Friday. The group, named Popular Unity, will be led by former energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis.
Meimarakis also met with the speaker of Parliament to seek her contribution in trying to cobble together a government and avoid early elections.
However, it is unlikely that Meimarakis or the new party will be able to form a government. At that point, Parliament will be dissolved and a caretaker government appointed to lead the country to early elections within a month.
Announcing his resignation in a televised address Thursday, Tsipras said he secured the best deal possible when he agreed to the new bailout from other eurozone countries to save Greece from a disastrous euro exit.
The deal, however, came with strict terms for more spending cuts and tax increases.
‘Elections will slow reforms’
Tsipras’ reversal in accepting such terms for the bailout caused outrage among Syriza hardliners. About one in four Syriza lawmakers refused to back the bailout’s ratification in Parliament last week, which was only approved with backing from opposition parties.
Malcolm Barr of J.P. Morgan noted that if Tsipras and his Syriza party return to office, as expected, they would do so without the hardliners and would seek out a moderate coalition partner that would help implement the bailout program.
However, he said, “the downside of new elections is that they will slow the implementation of measures.”That could delay the first review of the country’s reforms progress, and in turn delay talks on easing the terms of Greece’s debt, which both Athens and the International Monetary Fund, which was a major participant in Greece’s previous two bailouts, insist is essential.
Greek stocks tumble
The political uncertainty is taking its toll on Greece’s stock market, with the Athens Stock Exchange down 1.6 percent in mid-day trading, after closing 3.5 percent down Thursday on election speculation.
Tsipras had delayed a decision on whether to call a new election until after Greece received its first installment from the new bailout and made a debt repayment to the European Central Bank; it did both Thursday.
“Now that this difficult cycle has ended ... I feel the deep moral and political obligation to set before your judgment everything I have done, both right and wrong, the achievements and the omissions,” he said.
Tsipras insists he had to accept the unpalatable bailout terms to keep Greece in the euro, the EU’s common currency. He is betting on a stronger mandate if polls are held before voters feel the impact of the new steep tax hikes and spending cuts.
He acknowledged Thursday the bailout deal was not what his government had wanted.
“I wish to be fully frank with you. We did not achieve the agreement that we were hoping for before the January elections,” he said. “But ... (the agreement) was the best anyone could have achieved. We are obliged to observe this agreement, but at the same time we will do our utmost to minimize its negative consequences.”
Europe - Greek opposition tries to form new govt to prevent snap vote